To know the WASPs, we have to go back to the beginning...

The year is 1942, Pearl Harbor was just attacked on December 7, 1941.

When the US joined the Allies in the fight against the Axis powers, there were not many men left to pilot planes back home.

Thousands of women volunteered to help on the home front. They did the "man jobs" of building weapons, building and repairing planes, and so many other things during the war! So it was no surprise when over 1,074 women stepped up to ferry planes while the men were away.

These women came from all different backgrounds, but they all had one thing in common, their skill in flying.

They went through rigorous training at Avenger Air Field in Texas, becoming known as the Avenger Girls.

These women were the first women to fly for the US military! Even though they did not fly in combat, they were a vital piece to the war.

In 1943, the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASPs, were formed! They were lead by Jaqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love.

Even though they played such a vital role in the war, they were not given Military status, yet.

Betty Gillies was one of the first graduates of WASP, and later became the first woman to ferry a Boeing B-17 Bomber along with Nancy Harness Love.

By 1944, the WASPs had ferried over 12,000 planes across the US. These were planes that were used in battles during the war, like the C-47s and P-51s used in the D-Day invasion.